High School Student Arrested For Telling Principal He's "Disappointed" In Him

ST. JOHN — The principal of Lake Central High School is calling a sit-in students held over the suicide of one of its former students “a disruption” and “not the right way” to handle the situation.

Robin Tobias wrote in an email Wednesday night that was sent to parents that there’s “no easy solution when 200 kids decide to create a sit-in within the middle of the school in order to demonstrate a point of view, while making demands” and that he, too, was experiencing mixed emotions. The students had staged the sit-in over what they saw was the school’s lack of acknowledgement of the former student’s suicide last week.

Tobias said the students who participated in the sit-in could be perceived as promoting suicide as an option to solving one’s problems and recommended that students avail themselves of counseling services the school has set up for them. For that reason, the school adheres to a minimalist approach to addressing suicide publicly, Tobias wrote.

During the sit-in, one student was removed from the scene by police officers.

“There is a right and wrong way to solve a problem. A sit-in/open protest is not the right way,” Tobias said.

Tobias has not returned phone calls asking for comment Thursday.

A secretary answering the phone at the admonistration[sic] center Thursday afternoon said no administration officials were in the building to comment. She said she would absolutely not contact any of the officials on behalf of the press and ask them to respond to a request for comment.

A video taken of the protest and posted to the LiveLinks[sic] website shows a crowd of students gathered in an area on the first floor of the school’s new addition. A woman in the video is seen yelling at Tobias that the student was her son and that all they were asking for was a moment of silence over the intercom for him.

Tobias is heard telling the woman, “Ma’am, you’re not in charge here, I am.”

Tobias then tells the protesters to get out their student identification and told them he was “disappointed,” to which a protester replied, “We’re disappointed in you, too.”

Police officers are later shown dragging the student out of the area as the crowd cheered.

The student, Hunter Ernst, 18, of Schererville, was arrested for resisting arrest and possession of a knife on school property, St. John Police Chief Fred Frego said Thursday.

The students who participated in the sit-in were dismissed from the building, and their teachers were instructed to mark them as absent, Tobias said.

Tobias said it seemed there were more students interested in missing class and causing a disruption and that he was disappointed more students saw the sit-in as the right solution instead of talking with an adult about their feelings.